The Sacred Sights of Ethiopia

The Sacred Sights of Ethiopia

The Sacred Sights of Ethiopia

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ethiopia

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ethiopia

Rock of ages: a priest reads in the house of Golgotha at Lalibela

Place of reverence: the domed Medhane Alem Cathedral in Addis Ababa

If your idea of a holiday in East Africa is a simple choice between safari or palm-fringed beaches, think again. Ethiopia provides an altogether different African experience. As a landlocked country, it doesn't offer beaches. And while you can find elephants and lions in game reserves down in the south-west provinces, along with tribal societies that have remained remarkably intact, these are not the main reason why a growing number of travellers are going there.

Rather, it is the country's unique - and largely uninterrupted - cultural heritage going back more than 2,000 years that is the main draw. A Persian poet of those times observed that there were four great civilizations in the world: Rome, China, his own country, and the Axumite Empire, which ruled from what is now northern Ethiopia. The giant stellae erected over royal and noblemen's tombs at Axum still recall that age of grandeur. Ethiopia has more historic World Heritage sites than anywhere else in Africa.

But it is the continuous presence of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, with its clifftop monasteries and rock-hewn churches, that is for me most fascinating. The country adopted Christianity in the 4th century AD and that culture, in the Central Highlands at least, has remained largely unchanged ever since.

That it is still a living presence was brought home to me during one of the Ethiopian Church's great festivals, the Feast of the Epiphany. On its eve, hundreds gather at their local church to accompany its model of the Ark of the Covenant to the pool where Jesus's baptism in the River Jordan is ritually re-enacted.

Orthodox Ethiopians believe the original Ark Of The Covenant was brought to their land and now resides at Axum, copies of which, known as tabots, are kept in the "holy of holies" within every church.

And if that sounds like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, remember that Ethiopia's emperors - the last of whom, Haile Selassie, was deposed in 1974 - traced their lineage back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a belief that is central to his virtual deification by Rastafarians.

Ethiopians retain a more ancient faith and unchanging liturgy. To the slow beat of drums, the rhythmic chanting of white-turbaned priests, amidst the whiff of incense and high-pitched ululations of women, the silk-wrapped tabot is carried out of the church on the head of the officiating priest, who is then carried in a sedan chair, shaded by silken parasols, through the streets towards the sacred pool.

Our procession started from the Church of St Mary - a neoclassical basilica that stands beside the Patriarch's residence in Addis Ababa - turned left into King George VI Street and climbed towards the Jan Medina, an open parkland. Other processions from churches all over the capital converged there, so that by sunset tens of thousands filled the open space. The Patriarch and other honoured guests, including the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church, sat in a fenced-off enclosure while lines of white-robed priests chanted. Many of the faithful stayed through the night, waiting for the sun to rise and the ceremony whereby the waters of the holy pool are transfigured into those of the River Jordan.

The Patriarch approached the raised pool beneath a gilded statue of St John baptising Jesus. Then, to my amazement, he took a garden hose and began spraying all those around him. Tens of thousands surged forward; but there was no hint of hysteria or mob violence, only laughter and joy.

Indeed, Addis felt safe enough to walk about at night. Only in the Mercato, the maze of alleyways that is the central market, was I warned to beware of pickpockets.

The next day, a short internal flight brought me to Lalibela and yet more celebrations. One of its world famous rock-hewn churches is dedicated to St Michael, so here the Ark of the Covenant is returned a day later. I clambered around Lalibela's 11 monolithic churches and their surrounding network of trenches, all carved out of the living rock and dating back to the 13th century.

The Central Highlands are home to other quixotic wonders: the fairytale castles of Gondor, and ancient monasteries that guard Byzantine-inspired frescoes and illuminated manuscripts perched above vertical cliffs or hidden away on islands in Lake Tana, from which the Blue Nile begins its long journey to the Mediterranean.

Happily, the Ethiopian Church calendar is full of festivals, with celebrating the Finding Of The True Cross in late September among the most spectacular. By then the rains will have ended and the Highlands covered in greenery and wild flowers. A good time to see a very different side of Africa.

DETAILS: ETHIOPIA Cox & Kings arranges group and private travel to Ethiopia, from £2,950pp full board including international flights with bmi, internal flights, transfers and guided excursions.

coxandkings. co.uk British Midland International flies to Addis Ababa three times a week from Heathrow, £505 return.